Eastern promise spreads to the suburbs

There may be one Chinatown in Sydney, but you don't need to go to the city for Chinese - Fairfield, Ashfield and Hurstville are some of Sydney's "semi-China towns".

"Chinatown is still very Chinese but the community is divided into many, many aspects and areas," said Dr Tony Goh, chairman of the Australian Council of Chinese Organisations.

"In the 1970s Indo-Chinese migrants settled mostly in Fairfield and since 1990 mainland Chinese spread out in Ashfield and Burwood. Newer migrants from Hong Kong have settled in Chatswood and Hurstville."

Each area has its own slice of Chinese culture and taste - so for Cantonese try Fairfield, or if you prefer the sweet and spicy taste of Shanghai head for Ashfield.

But for the highlights tour of China, Chinatown is still the place to go.

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"A lot of Chinese were garden vegetable growers and they centralised in the Haymarket area where they could sell their produce at markets. What started with vegetables, bananas and fruit gardeners gradually developed into grocery shops and restaurants then Chinese movies, magazines and table tennis," Dr Goh said.

Those growers are now being replaced by younger generations of Chinese.

"Because of the increasing population many people had to move away from that small space of Chinatown which has become very commercialised and the real estate properties are highly priced and are not suitable for people to live in. They can sell their old place and move out and buy two places further out.

"But with the new development of high rise towers, younger people are moving in. You can see them every evening, most of them students who like the city lifestyle."